Time To Go Again (For The Second Time)
by Forestfire34720
Summary: He freezes in horror and terror as they brush against the fresh bruises there. He rushes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror; they're there alright. He forgets how to breathe as he stares at them. That's when it's suddenly clear to him. It wasn't just another nightmare. And he's about to go through everything all over again. — Choices: Stories You Play: It Lives


He wakes up screaming. Flailing about, the sheets tangle around his limbs and he lands with a thump to the floor.

"Ow..." he mumbles, groaning and grumbling to himself.

He shivers when he opens his eyes and sees nothing but darkness. He quickly turns on the light, almost lunging frantically to reach it, and sits on the floor with his back resting against the bed frame. His mouth is dry, his throat hoarse, and he can't shake that horrible, horrible image...

 _No, don't think about. Don't think about it. It's in the past, it's over, everything is fine._

It's fine. He's fine.

Not really, but everybody tells him it is, he is. They tell him that he's okay, he's safe, it's all in the past. He tries to believe them. He wants to believe them.

His dreams say otherwise.

A chime from his phone draws his attention. Who would be texting him at this hour? He rubs his eyes and checks the latest messages.

 **3:09 am**

 **Dan: Hey, are you there? It's Dan.**

 **Dan: I messed up. I'm so sorry...**

His heart stops, and for several long seconds, he forgets how to breathe. No... this isn't possible. It can't be. He saw Dan die with his own two eyes, saw his chest shaking, the muscles in his neck straining, as he tried and failed to inhale. He remembered Stacy screaming, Lucas sobbing, when his body went slack. He remembered _her_ giggling as they watched their friend suffocate...

 **Devon: Who is this?!**

 **Dan: What?**

 **Dan: It's Dan.**

 **Dan: I'm sorry. I went back into the woods.**

 **Dan: I had to be sure, I had to prove to myself it was all in my head.**

 **Dan: But it isn't, Devon, it's all real. HE'S real.**

His blood is boiling. How dare they? But at the same time, a cold sense of déjà vu is creeping up on him, and his heart hammers in his chest, each beat a resounding clap of thunder. He swallows, pushing the feeling back - there's no changing the past, and surely this is just a horribly cruel prank? - and types back an angry reply.

 **Devon: Who the hell do you think you are, using this number?!**

 **Devon: How the f did you even get it?!**

 **Devon: I swear when I find you...**

 **Dan: I don't understand.**

 **Dan: What are you talking about?**

 **Dan: Never mind.**

 **Dan: But Devon, I heard him whispering, just like when we were kids.**

Hands shaking, he looks up from his phone. His breath comes fast and quick, and he's barely a moment away from hyperventilating. The memories crash over him, and he reaches out, groping for the paper bag that's become customary to be beside his bed. His hand closes on empty air; he struggles to control his breathing.

Doubling over, he clutches his head in his hands, trembling violently. _A bad dream... It's just a bad dream. It has to be. It can't be starting again. This isn't real._

His phone buzzes, and despite his best efforts, he finds himself reading the messages again.

 **Dan: He's real.**

 **Dan: Mr. Red's real.**

 **Dan: He's here with me now.**

 **Dan: I can hear him in the trees.**

 **Dan: I can hear him whispering...**

He remembers what happens next, remembers the stone monster in Dan's skin that came to his house and tried to strangle him. A moment later, there's a harsh _tap tap tap_ from the window. He jumps, crying out involuntarily.

 _Just a dream... It's just a dream..._

Dream or not, this feels very real, and the terror pulsing through his veins isn't any less frightening. He almost can't make himself turn to face the pseudo-Dan in the window, but he does. _It's just a dream. It can't hurt me._

Sure enough, there's the familiar face, but he knows it's not Dan. It's in his mind, and even if it somehow wasn't, Dan is _dead_. His heart wants to believe with all it has that it isn't true, but it is. He remembers, all too well, his still form. The familiar heart-wrenching shapes haunt and terrorize every single nightmare he's had.

"Devon, can I come in?" pseudo-Dan asks.

"I..." His mouth opens and closes, trying to find words. It can't be, but everything in him is screaming that it _is. No. Just a nightmare-stone-monster._ Trying to haunt another of his sleepless nights. Panic settles over him, as the "reality" of the dream starts to overcome reason.

He starts to back away from the shape in the window.

"Devon?" pseudo-Dan says, sounding confused. "Are you going to let me in?"

"Not real..." he mumbles under his breath. "Not real not real _not real!_ "

His mind reasons that it isn't. Everything else is screaming that it is. He tries to shut it out, shut out pseudo-Dan still waiting at the window. His instincts overcome logic, and he finds himself stumbling out of his room, leaving the _creature_ calling after him. His knees shake so badly that he almost trips and face-plants down the stairs, but a last-minute grab of the rails saves him.

"Devon!"

He ignores it.

 **3:17 am**

 **Dan: Are you still there? I think I'm lost...**

 **Dan: Devon? My battery's almost dead, please help me!**

His fingers tighten around his phone as he staggers into the kitchen. He's almost about to answer it when there's a crash upstairs, followed by the sound of glass breaking. Heavy thuds sound on the stairs. Tears spring unbidden to his eyes, and he reaches out for something, anything. His hand finds a flower vase, and he clutches it tightly as pseudo-Dan appears.

"Why are you running, Devon?" it asks.

"G-get away," he sobs, holding out the vase like it will stop anything it does.

"We have to go find the others," states pseudo-Dan.

"N-no..."

"Don't you remember, Devon? We have to. Now let's go get our friends. Stacy. Lily. Noah. Lucas. Ava. Andy." Each name is like a barbed arrow, and he flinches, the memory of their limp, lifeless bodies conjuring in his mind. Its face splits into a grin, one wider than it should be. "After all, _everyone plays together._ "

"No..."

Its hand shoots out and clamps down on his wrist, pulling him towards it. He tries to take a swing, but it easily twists the vase out of his grasp and kicks it away. It shatters on the ground as its other hand finds his throat. He struggles for breath as it leans close, its breath cold and dank.

His eyes squeeze shut; though the grip on his neck doesn't slacken, at least he doesn't have to see the face of his friend melting away. Instinctively, his own hands pull futilely at its vice-like grip, to no effect. He wants to scream, but with no breath left to do so, all that comes out is a weak choking sound.

Slowly, consciousness slips away, and everything fades to a cold, dark nothingness.

* * *

"AAAAAHHH!" He jerks upright with a terrified scream, thrashing wildly, his heart jackhammering. Slowly, he becomes aware that he is alone, but it barely makes a difference. For several minutes, he can't move, can barely even breathe with the feeling of hands clenched around his neck. His breaths come short and ragged.

 _Just another nightmare..._ he whispers to himself. _J-just a dream. Wasn't real._

Shivering, he turns to get out of bed, his movements slow and shaky. As he does so, his fingers check his neck, as they always do after a nightmare of that part.

He freezes in horror and terror as they brush against the fresh bruises there. He rushes to the bathroom and looks in the mirror; they're there alright, already beginning to mottle different colors. He forgets how to breathe as he stares at them.

 _How?_

That's when it's suddenly clear to him.

It wasn't just another nightmare.

And he's about to go through everything all over again.

* * *

 **Welcome to the time loops, ILiTW.**

 **Trees, I'm horrible, aren't I? And to make it all worse, the original timeline MC is from is one where they're the only survivor. Yep.**

 **I might return to this at some point, if I feel like it, but for now, consider this a one-shot.**


End file.
